Several Terrible Ideas
by caitizzles
Summary: Ryan gets kidnapped and Troy thinks he can help...but Troy's an idiot, so he gets kidnapped too. Tryan.
1. Chapter 1

The day Ryan Evans was 'kidnapped' (ugh, he hated that word – he was _not_ a kid) had started off as the best day of his life. He should have figured something absolutely tragic was going to happen. He had never been very lucky.

It was a Wednesday in early April and he had started his morning off in the shower, which was a fairly normal way to start any day. It went from normal to rather memorable, however, as he had managed to come up with a rather stirring fantasy involving several scantily clad baseball players and imaginative uses for their incredibly muscled bodies, even though his brain was usually too sleep-fogged in the mornings for such an activity. This all had the wonderful result of him exiting the steamy bathroom more refreshed than usual, and with a rather optimistic outlook on the day ahead of him.

School had been painless. No tests, no anxiety over unfinished homework, and a substitute for his math teacher. Really, it couldn't have gone better.

He was in such a good mood that he had decided against riding home with his sister, and instead chose to walk. It was April, and the New Mexico heat wasn't overwhelming yet, and Ryan thought he should enjoy it while it lasted.

This is probably the point in the story where you would expect he got kidnapped, but no, the day actually hadn't even gotten to its greatest point yet. You see when Ryan made it home (perfectly safely, not a kidnapper in sight) he walked into the kitchen to find fresh baked chocolate chip cookies waiting for him on the table. And that was only the _first_ great thing waiting there for him. There was also a giant envelope with a pink sticky note right on top.

_Ducky!_

_A package this big can mean only one thing, darling! I'm so very proud of you! I'm out getting things ready for tonight's celebration dinner but I had Ella make your favorite…expect me at six._

_With presents!_

_Love,_

_Mommy_

Sure enough, she had been exactly right. Everyone knew what getting the "big envelope" from a college meant. It meant you were accepted, and Ryan's envelope was no exception. It was big and white and inside he found a glossy purple folder from NYU and within that, a letter detailing his acceptance on fancy thick paper that had a watermark and everything.

The knowledge that he had gotten into the college of his dreams washed over him at all once and Ryan had to sit down. He knew he had the theater experience to make his application sufficiently promising to an admissions officer, but after a year of guidance counselors going on about 'reaches' and 'safeties' and all the horror stories of kids with perfect SATs, 4.0 grade point averages and thirty extra curricular activities getting rejected from their top choices it all had seemed like such a crap shoot.

And then something even sweeter hit him -- that being the blissful realization that for the next four and a half months he was absolutely obligation free. School was essentially over. Yeah, he had to show up to class, but it mostly involved watching movies that related to the class' subject matter in the vaguest of ways. Just last week they had watched _Finding Nemo_ in biology class, and starting on Monday they would be watching _March of the Penguins_.

He was also fortunate enough to not need a summer job. He'd heard those could be totally miserable, and yeah most of his friends had them and they seemed okay, but he was still glad he'd never have to find out for himself.

Nope, nothing was standing in his way. He was just free. To do whatever the hell he wanted.

And the first the Ryan planned to do with that freedom was to spend an afternoon playing _Guitar Hero_ and eating really unhealthy food. He wasn't going to stop until someone pried the plastic guitar from his cold, dead, cheeto-stained fingers.

Right about when Ryan had gotten five stars on "Reptilia" for the third time was when he heard someone moving around downstairs. Despite his earlier mental insistence that only death could keep him from playing _Guitar Hero_ well into the night, he recalled his mother had made mention of presents in her note. So, he didn't even bother to pause the game. He just tossed the plastic guitar across the room and went barreling down the staircase, propelled by thoughts of brand new hats and maybe that vest he had seen when he had been out shopping with his mom the other day that came in a really exciting shade of cerulean.

Unfortunately, upon entering the foyer, he was not greeted with his mother weighed down by shopping bag upon shopping bag. Instead, and rather frighteningly so, there were three men dressed entirely in black, faces obscured by ski masks. It was actually kind of cliché. Ryan was going to make mention of it, but when he opened his mouth only two words came out.

"Oh, shit."

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, so this is just a bit of a teaser, to gauge interest. The idea might be too cracktastic, but if there is interest I have the plot for a 5 part series (with this being the prologue). Please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Troy had long been accepted to the University of Albuquerque. While most of his friends were biting their nails and running home immediately after school every day to check their mailboxes, Troy had been coasting along since December. Even better than that, Chad had gotten accepted around the same time, despite his constant whining that he didn't have Troy's connections to the team or the admission's office. Chad actually got the same exact athletic scholarship and in addition to that Chad had gotten additional amount for academic performance.

This turn of events had completely resolved all the drama that had happened the previous summer and Troy and Chad were back to being the best of friends, especially now that they didn't have to worry so much about school. In fact, with classes winding down and most of the pressures of school completely relieved Chad and Troy had taken to organizing pick games of soccer, basketball, baseball and all other kinds of sports after school during the times when they didn't have formal practice. It turned out to the be the most fun he could remember having and he couldn't believe he and his friends didn't play informally like this more often.

It wasn't just for the Wildcat jocks either. All different kinds of people would show up to play, of all different levels, and sometimes the team was in for a real surprise. East High didn't have a soccer team, but a lot of the kids who showed up to play were members of outside leagues so the games very often got intense, much to the thrill of those playing and also those watching. By the end of the year the pick up games could usually draw a crowd of over 50 people.

Another surprise was Ryan Evans. Troy had heard he was good, but he hadn't expected him to be _that_ good. Ryan Evans was the kid who had to take gym four times a day his senior year because he had never bothered to show up the three years previous. Troy was also pretty sure he'd never even been to the part of the school where all the sports fields were before this year, yet there he was, ridiculously over dressed and throwing strike after strike.

So not only was Troy having more fun with his friends than ever before, as well as making tons of new friends, but a few times a month during basketball season he and Chad would drive over to U of A and they got to hang out with the team together. The boys had welcomed Chad just as enthusiastically as they had Troy. Troy and Chad would join in on practice every once in a while, but they always tried to make it to the home games, which in turn meant they were always invited to the victory parties. They both realized they were getting a huge leg up on the whole college social scene, and it was making their senior year quite memorable.

So, when April came around Troy had been confident that he was having, hands down, the best year ever, which is a very dangerous thing to feel so confident in. Being blissfully and totally happy can only last so long, and Troy, though deemed by many as "the Golden Boy," was no exception.

It was 5:00 PM on a spring day when Troy was sitting at his kitchen table, sweating and exhausted, having just gotten in from baseball practice, when his cell phone began to play "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, and that meant one thing. Gabi was calling. He dove for the phone to answer it as quickly as possible, not because he was at Gabi's beck and call or anything lame like that, but because he really hated that song. Troy and Gabi had been watching a movie at her house, and Troy had picked the movie and since it wasn't about people falling in love and making out passionately in the rain Gabi hadn't been all that interested so she had hijacked Troy's phone. When he got it back his screen read "Troy and Gabi 4eva!" and had a picture of them together as the background. The picture was cute, but he kind of hated opening his phone and seeing his own face every time. It seemed kind of egotistical. And the whole thing was also kind of girly.

He wanted to change it all back, but it was Gabi and she would probably get upset. She wouldn't _say_ that she was upset, no definitely not. She would smile all big and say it was fine and then later Troy would find out that everyone absolutely hated him for doing something so horrible to sweet and precious Gabriella Montez and then she would say that she needed a break and he wouldn't really get it at all and, really, he just wanted to avoid all of that if possible.

But, yeah, now she was calling. He managed to pick up before the chorus got going, and for that he was relieved.

"Hey, Gabs!" He said as cheerfully as possible, masking the residual irritation of that stupid song.

"Hey, Troy. We need to talk! Can I come over?" That was weird. Troy tried to read her voice but was coming up with nothing. Usually the business of needing to have a talk was a bad sign, but Gabriella sounded completely happy and cheerful. Possibly even a little overexcited.

"Yeah, come on over. I'm just hopping in the shower, but I'll probably be done by time you get here."

"Perfect! See you in 20 or so minutes!" And with those final exclamations, she was off the line. It was rather unlike Gabriella, who always spent an inordinately long time saying goodbye. But they _were_ seeing each other in just a few minutes, so maybe she had for once realized the drawn out farewells were unnecessary.

Troy was just finishing putting his clothes on when he heard the doorbell ring. He barreled down the stairs in his usual manner of skipping as many of them as possible and then using his momentum to slide full on into the door. It usually freaked out the people behind the door, but Gabriella was a regular guest at the Bolton house and long been accustomed to the accompanying racket.

When Troy flung the door open he was greeted with a Gabriella who was absolutely beaming. She was also bouncing up and down on her heels and she even had tears in her eyes. They were obviously happy tears, though. Gabi was one of those people who could happy cry, like in the movies. Troy so did not get it.

Troy did not have to wonder for very long what the source of all this emotion was, however. As Gabi had an envelope bigger than her entire torso in her hands and it was rather clearly emblazoned with the word "Georgetown."

Troy was now also feeling very happy. Georgetown was Gabi's dream and it was happening and she was clearly over the moon about it and Troy couldn't help but get excited himself. He immediately picked her up and spun her around a couple of times.

"Gabi! This is so great! Congratulations! I mean, I knew you were going to get in, but it's nice that it's official now."

She looked sheepish at his confidence in her ability but nevertheless the smile didn't leave her face. Troy had a feeling it was going to be permanently stuck there for a good while.

"Thanks, Troy. Stuff like this is never definite, but I'm so relieved."

But it turned out Troy was wrong, because not 5 minutes after Gabi arrived on her doorstep, she completely wiped the smile from her face and promptly broke up with Troy. And 10 minutes after that she was out the door.

x x x

Ryan was kind of confused. He knew one thing, though, and he had _definitely_ been drugged. His vision was swimming and he couldn't move any of his limbs. From his experience with horror movies, this was decidedly not good. What if he was the minor character he was wiped out so easily no one even remembered once the movie ended. Just that first victim with whom the audience has no emotional attachment, merely a plot device to let everyone know a killer's on the loose.

Ryan was just starting to think that his current train of thought was rather unproductive as far as finding of a way to escape was concerned, but before he could quite manage he passed out again.

This was much to the concern of three people named Michael, Jacob, and Todd. Those were the same three people who had dressed in black and broken into the Evan's home and they were also the ones who had administered the drugs. They were now realizing they had been a perhaps little too generous with the drugs part, as Ryan was going in and out of consciousness as well as babbling incoherently. He could only remain awake for a few moments, and he usually spent that time mumbling angrily that he "wasn't a plot device" and that he "deserved a more prominent role" because he had "emotional depth."

The three men looked nervously at one another once the boy had passed out again. It was actually rather important that Ryan stay alive, so they were all a bit nervous that he was still so out of it. However, after checking both Wikipedia and WebMD they realized he just needed to sleep it off, so they let him be and went one room over to make something for dinner. None of them were very good cooks, however, so they ended up just eating five boxes of macaroni and cheese.

x x x

Okay, so, Troy wasn't _devastated_ or anything like that. After the fourth or fifth time they had broken up Troy and Gabriella both realized their relationship was definitely "a high school thing." Yeah, it had been really great in the beginning, but it was their first ever relationship, so of course it was amazing. Troy had never had anyone to make out with on a regular basis and Gabriella finally had something other than homework and extra credit work to occupy her spare time.

They both knew it was coming because Troy was always absolutely sure he would go to U of A and Gabi had applied to east coast schools exclusively. Still, Troy had surprised himself a bit by how little he had been affected by the break up. In fact, the first thought that had popped into his head once Gabi had left was that he would finally be able to restore his phone to its previous levels of manliness. In many ways, the emotion he was feeling most strongly was relief.

The pressure was really off now. His future plans were set, he didn't have homework or basketball championship games to worry about and he didn't have to always check with the people around him to make sure he hadn't accidentally hurt his girlfriends feelings once again.

In fact, by dinner Troy was even able to convince himself that things were _better_ this way. He was still top dog and everything was still going in his favor.

And that may very well have been the case, but as mentioned previously, these kinds of thoughts are rather dangerous. Troy should have been humbled by his brush with unhappiness, but instead he chose to wink cheekily at himself in the bathroom mirror, while thinking something along the lines of "you still got it, Bolton."

These kinds of actions are rather ominous. Some shit was about to go down.

**Author's Notes:** Cough. Yeah, it's still full of crack and I'm still writing, despite the fact I'm not sure if anyone likes it, haha. Well, too bad, it's getting written anyway! I mean, I'd prefer if people were reading it or whatever, and _liking_ it, most preferably. But either way, I'm pretty sure it's going to get written. And it's going to be more than five parts because my brain has gone crazy places. I'd love it if you'd review! Perhaps a guess as to who the kidnappers might be? You'll never guess! Not yet, anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

Since baseball season had only ended about two weeks ago, no one had been all that interested in making it one of the daily pick up games until today. All the requisite text messages had gone out yesterday and the guys had all been confident they had gotten two teams together. Baseball games were always the hardest, logistically, to plan for so Chad had gone into near hysterics when he realized _both_ teams were without a pitcher.

After 10 minutes of questioning the student populace menacingly (Chad took these games _very_ seriously) it was discovered that neither Ryan nor Rich had been in school that day.

Chad called Rich first and delivered a line of questioning that probably would have gotten him hired by the Spanish Inquisition. It was determined that Rich was legitimately ill with some kind of flu thing that actually had him vomiting mid phone call.

Ryan on the other hand, was proving a bit more difficult to reach. Chad got no answer when he called his cell. It just went directly to voicemail, indicating it probably wasn't even on. Almost immediately after Chad pressed the "end" button on his cell phone, a doomsday-like revelation swept through the assembled crowd.

Someone would have to call Sharpay.

About 7 people shouted 'not me!" at once, and then after five minutes of squabbling it was finally decided that Troy would have to be the one to do the calling. After all, while no one could expect her to be particularly nice, especially if the person was only calling to ask about the location of her brother, at least Troy had the best chance of getting a response because Sharpay was well known to find Troy really, incredibly sexy.

At that moment, Troy cursed his good looks (but of course he could not argue with their unquestionable existance) and reluctantly began scrolling through his (newly re-emasculated) phone for her number. He considered faking the phone call, and then insisting no one was picking up, but he was actually looking forward to today's game, and it wouldn't be the same without Ryan. It was always way more exciting to get a hit off of Ryan, who could actually throw above 80 MPH (though, he had the feeling Ryan only ever did when Troy was at bat) as well as four different pitches.

It all became a moot point, however, when Sharpay's phone went on ringing for the seventh time. He was just about to hang up and suggest maybe they switch to soccer for today when he heard a click on the other end.

"Troy? Why are you calling?" Troy had expected the words, but not the tone. Instead of sounding frustrated at Troy's intrusion on her day of shopping and getting massages, or whatever the hell it was that Sharpay did in her free time, she sounded genuinely confused. Troy also thought she sounded like she was upset about something and immediately Troy felt the need to apologize, but for what he had no idea.

"Umm, hi, Sharpay." He began, not sure how to deal with her unexpected demeanor. "Sorry to be calling or whatever, but we were just wondering where Ryan was." Sharpay was silent on the other end and he then realized he was being kind of rude by not giving her any context for the phone call, as she probably hadn't even known Ryan was supposed to have met them at the baseball field.

"Uh, yeah, sorry. What I mean is he was supposed to meet us after school to play baseball, but he didn't show. Some people said he wasn't in school today, so I just wanted to know what was up." Troy laughed awkwardly, trying to be light in the face of Sharpay's totally uncharacteristic solemnity.

"Oh. Troy. Um-" And then she broke off, and Troy was horrified to realize that he had Sharpay Evans on the phone and she was crying hysterically. He had no idea what to do, except for one voice of reason way in the back of his mind shouting at him frantically the following advice: _Yes, Troy, girls this upset are a truly scary thing, but DON'T HANG UP. I know you want to, but that is the cheapest way of getting a one-way ticket on the Douchebag Express. DO NOT HANG UP._

So Troy did not hang up. And after a few more seconds of collecting himself he managed to reign in his alarm enough to realize he should really try to find out what was wrong.

"Uh, Sharpay?" No verbal response. Still lots of crying. "Sharpay! Sharpay, are you alright?" He was actually really freaked out at this point, as he could not imagine anything that would make Sharpay this upset or, really, this willing to act so vulnerable in front of another person.

"What's wrong?" He had to repeat this question several times before he could get Sharpay to respond, and even then her answer came out broken and stilted between sobs.

"Troy…oh, God…Troy, Ryan is – he's _missing_!"

Troy inhaled sharply. He was hardly able to believe what he had just heard, but he didn't have the heart to force Sharpay to explain. Before he could respond at all, she apologized among even more tears saying she had to go and without another word the line went dead.

Troy returned to the group, where most of them were wearing expressions that showed a mixture of curiosity and impatience. Chad's eyebrows were raised expectantly. Troy had no idea where to even begin, but figuring there was no way to do something like this tactfully, so he figured he might as well just get on with it.

"Well, I'm not too sure what exactly is going on, but Sharpay was crying hysterically and she said that Ryan was missing."

Troy could see that the words were taking their time to process in the minds of his friends. It was just nearly impossible to imagine that something like this could happen to one of their own. Eventually, Chad let the basketball he had tucked under his left arm drop and he went slack jawed.

Immediately, everyone had a million questions that Troy was in no way able to answer. He did however try his best to convince everyone that running straight over to the Evan's to find out was probably a _very_ bad idea, as it was probably hectic already.

"We have to do _something_, though. We absolutely need to respect their privacy, but they definitely still need everyone's support." That was Gabriella.

Right then she stood up on the bench she had been sitting on and immediately everyone stopped talking frantically among themselves and gave her their attention. Within 15 minutes she had a group of four or five kids assigned to get the notes and homework for all of Sharpay's classes and she had conducted a rapid-fire discussion with Zeke regarding what kinds of food they could prepare for the family, with specific attention to what cookies Shapay like best (which, thankfully, Zeke was well versed in). She even got various people on their cell phones trying to get in contact with Sharpay's friends from drama club to make sure they knew what was going on and asking if they needed rides so they could get over to the house for moral support. For the first time since they broke up, Troy felt something like regret. Gabi had a heart of fucking twenty-eight karat gold, but she also got shit done like it was no one's business. Whether it was homework or making sure her boyfriend always had his favorite brownies waiting for him after a grueling practice, she did it and she did it with one of the most beautiful smiles in the world. Troy then realized it was probably a little selfish to want someone to be your girlfriend so they could make you brownies, so he just made a mental note that he must absolutely remain friends with her _forever._

Eventually the group decided (well, they didn't really decide anything – Gabi told them and they agreed) that at least a few people should head over to the Evans house. Without much commotion, it was unanimously agreed upon that Chad, Gabriella and Zeke would go over. Chad and Gabi because they were the closest to Ryan, and Zeke because he was the closest to Sharpay. However, none of them had their own cars so in the end it was decided that Troy would drive them, as he knew Mrs. and Mr. Evans fairly well from their summer at Lava Springs, as well as having spent significant amounts of time with Mr. Evans after having been accepted at U of A.

Troy was extremely nervous the whole drive over. He could hardly imagine the charming and well-dressed Mrs. Evans going through such a tragedy. She was always smiling and greeting people with kisses on both cheeks and she was _always_ praising Ryan for one thing another and generally just bombarding him with love, and Troy just couldn't fathom someone as glamorous as all that going through something so terrible. And attempting to imagine it was unpleasant enough -- he was not at all looking forward to seeing it first hand.

Gabi had talked endlessly the whole way over, obviously not trusting three boys to have any emotional tact, whatsoever. She had planned for the worst, that being the presence of police officers and the house being taped off, but that must have already happened because there were no police cars. Troy had actually been hoping they would be turned away in the name of not "contaminating a crime scene" or something like that, but when he realized he was going to luck out in that department he changed gears and began hoping the Evans weren't home at all.

Troy took his time parking his truck and when he couldn't maneuver his pick-up even an inch closer to the curb he gave up on stalling and shut off the engine. No one moved to leave.

"Are we sure this is okay?"

Even Gabi looked hesitant at the question Chad had just posed.

"Well, we aren't here to pry for information. Just to offer our support in anyway possible." Confidence bolstered, Gabi opened the door and started making her way up the impossibly long driveway. Slowly, each of them followed her.

Sharpay was the one who answered the door, and immediately Troy wished he could get away. It was Sharpay like he had never seen her before. No make up, hair in a ponytail, and most surprisingly, wearing glasses. Seeing Sharpay so dressed down was a shock, but what really made Troy's throat close up was that she was dressed head to toe in Ryan's clothes. A baseball t-shirt Troy had seen him wear at a game or two and lime green leggings Troy had seen Ryan wearing _many_ times at play practice. It was one thing to see Sharpay so lax in her appearance in a time of stress, but to have her openly displaying such an attachment to another person, even if it was her twin brother, made him really realize that Ryan was gone, and it mostly definitely wasn't some elaborate joke.

"Oh, hi." Sharpay was entirely reserved in her greeting. "I'm sorry if I upset you on the phone, Troy, you didn't have to come." The sincerity in her words kind of gutted him.

Gabi then took over and Troy was immensely grateful. She hugged Sharpay, and she actually hugged Gabriella back.

"You don't have to tell us anything if you don't want to, Sharpay, we just wanted to make sure you were all right," Gabi said as she released Sharpay, and then Zeke took his turn. He hugged her as well, for a little longer than Gabi did and he didn't say anything, just held her tightly and rubbed her back.

Sharpay then started to cry, which brought her mother to the door. Troy was surprised to see she looked exactly the same as the last time he saw her, save for slightly puffy eyes and, instead of her normally conservative attire, she too appeared to be wearing a sweater of Ryan's with a pair of jeans.

Mrs. Evans immediately conjured a welcoming smile on her face, and though it was tinged with sadness, it made Troy feel really good about having come to visit. He always liked her and he felt a lot better knowing that she wasn't as wrecked as he had feared. It made Troy feel, and he is also pretty sure everyone else as well, that maybe all wasn't lost. That somehow this situation could be fixed.

"It's so thoughtful for you all to have come by." She hugged each one of them in turn, and then took her daughter by the hand and invited them all into the family room. They passed Mr. Evan's study, and Troy can see him looking sterner than ever before while speaking to someone solemnly on the phone.

Once they were all seated, Mrs. Evans immediately began telling all the facts.

"What the police think happened is that Ryan came home from school yesterday and the house was empty. I was out shopping because he had just gotten accepted to NYU and I wanted to make a special dinner and also get him a few presents." This detail was particularly painful to digest. It was hard to think of what should have been such a happy evening turning out to be so distressing. "They know he was at home for at least a few hours because there had been some mail for him on the table that was opened, and some food, and they found his fingerprints on the flatware. From there they are pretty sure he went into the rec-room to play video games. There weren't any signs of a struggle, nor was there a ransom note. Normally that would have led the police to suspect he had simply run away." At this, Mrs. Evans looked truly heart broken and Troy could understand why. He could never imagine Ryan wanting to leave a family that loved him so much, and just the possibility that Ryan could have felt the need to was painful for her.

"The police are hesitant to pursue that, though. After interviewing everyone in the family, as well as the staff here, they find it to be incredibly unlikely. Also, as far as anyway one can tell, nothing is missing from his room." Then she smiled to herself. "Well, it's not as if we'd actually _know_ if any clothes were missing, the boy has enough clothes to dress a nation."

It wasn't really the time for jokes, but it felt good to remember something that was so fundamentally Ryan, so everyone laughed anyway.

"Anyway, the police expect we will receive a ransom any day now. We are actually hoping for it. It seems absurd, but it would really be the easiest solution to this whole mess." They all agreed. Money wasn't an issue for the Evans family, and at least if Ryan had been kidnapped for money, there was a good chance he wouldn't be hurt.

Mrs. Evans allowed them to ask questions for a while, and they, of course, had been absolutely unwavering in their insistence that they would do anything they could to help.

Mrs. Evans was always gracious and thanked them, but assured them the police would handle it. Around the thirty-seventh time, however, a light bulb seemed to go off.

"You know, the police did suggest we ask a few of Ryan's friends to take a look at his room. They thought you might notice something we hadn't."

Both Gabi and Chad immediately started discussing everything they could remember about Ryan's bedroom and before long all four of them were following Mrs. Evans upstairs.

x x x

Ryan had been kidnapped by total morons.

He had woken up about 10 minutes ago, and while he had a huge headache, he was at least able to remain conscious. He was just about to start demanding some answers and, more importantly, some aspirin, when he realized that he could hear his kidnappers conversing one room over.

"What do you _mean_ you THINK you forgot to leave the ransom note?"

"Well, I mean, I just can't recall leaving it anywhere. But it's not in the bag we took. So it must be there, right?"

This was how Ryan came to realize he had actually been kidnapped. Up to this point it had been assumption, but he was somewhat relieved to know that chances were now good he wasn't going to be dismembered. He'd be hardly worth the money without any of his limbs.

With the question of his safety answered well enough to allow him to focus on other things more clearly, he could now thoroughly marvel at the stupidity of his capturers.

"Yes, but it's not going to do us much good if you didn't place it anywhere they would find it. Or anywhere they will find it soon."

Then a new voice cut in. "Yeah, man. We only have a week. My parents get back from Paris next Wednesday."

Ryan balked. He had, apparently, been kidnapped by someone who still lived with his parents. While that spoke volumes about the motivations of at least one of his kidnappers, it also seriously made him want to giggle. Which was not good as he was finding this whole eavesdropping business rather informative (as well as surprisingly entertaining) and he wanted neither the information-gathering nor the amusement to stop.

Sadly, he failed. The longer he tried not to laugh, the more hilarious his kidnappers seemed and in the end he found himself foregoing giggling all together and merely laughing so hard he had actually cried a little bit.

That, of course, was a huge mistake as within seconds there were three enormous people surrounding him, all of them looking like they couldn't imagine anything better than punching him right in the face.

"Uhh…hello."

At this point one of them had begun slapping a clenched fist against his open palm and Ryan couldn't decide if he was more afraid or if he wanted to laugh again. When they still didn't say anything to him and just started moving closer, fear won out and Ryan shut his eyes tightly and braced himself for the worst.

He heard one of them snap their fingers.

"Oh, hey! I just remembered where I left that stupid ransom note."

Ryan opened his eyes. The focus was off of him and now on the man who had just spoken.

"So where is it?"

"Well, I remember after we got the kid all sedated and everything you told me to just give the house a once over to make sure nothing looked overly disturbed, you know, and make sure no one was home. Well, I went into the room the kid had come out of and he had been playing guitar hero, I guess, 'cause the game was on and I remember I really wanted to play because it was _Legends of Rock_ and that one's my favorite. So, I went in my bag to get my gloves back out, 'cause, you know, fingerprints and everything, and I also took out the note. And then I was just gonna play one game, but then you were like 'Todd, come on, let's go' and I was bummed and I forgot the note."

Now the two others were directing their "I'm gonna punch your lights out" expressions solely at Todd and Ryan would have been relieved he was no longer the object of their wrath, but he was way too busy laughing hysterically.

x x x

The search of Ryan's room hadn't turned up anything. No one was able to decide if anything was missing, and none of his belongings were noticeably out of order.

Since the police had felt Ryan had spent at least a few minutes of his afternoon in the rec room, Mrs. Evans suggested that they look there as well.

They followed her into the room, and Troy immediately tried to get out of the way, just as he had when they were in the Ryan's bedroom. He was the least familiar with the house, having only been there in large groups, which never lent itself to close inspection of the surroundings.

However, in his attempt to clear the way for the others he tripped over a plastic guitar that had been carelessly tossed near the entrance. Luckily, he was able to brace himself on the couch before he truly embarrassed himself by falling flat on his face. The same could not be said for his school bag, however, which he had been hauling around on one arm, thus, it had spilled over when he had lost his balance.

He quickly cleaned up and went back to trying to be invisible in the corner while everyone else circled the room six or seven times trying to pick out things that were amiss. He was disappointed when all three of them decided they couldn't think of a single thing, but privately relieved they could finally leave.

x x x

Troy didn't really want to go to the basketball game at U of A that Friday. The whole experience was specifically tainted by the fact that Mr. Evans had been a huge part of them being able to integrate themselves so fully into the team.

Chad had been near comatose since they had gotten back from the Evan's house yesterday, but he did ask Troy if he would pick him up at the usual time, and though Troy was surprised that Chad still wanted to go, he definitely didn't want to upset his buddy even more than he had been in the past 48 hours.

"Yeah, sure, I don't know if I'm in the party mood, though. I think I'll leave right after the game, do you think you can get a ride home."

"Nah, I'll go home with you. Definitely not in the mood for a party, either. I just wouldn't want to insult Mr. E, by being a no show, you know? He went through all that trouble of making sure I got that scholarship, I want to make sure he knows I 'm taking it seriously."

It was true, the grades of one of the senior's on the team had dropped so severely that he no longer qualified for his scholarship and Mr. Evans had immediately begun championing Chad as a worthy recipient. Both Troy and Mr. Evans knew perfectly well Chad could have gotten it with out the help, or if not that one, then another, but Chad had been sincerely grateful for additional security and he was nothing but dutiful in showing that gratitude.

In the end the team lost, so even though it was college and there was going to be a party anyway, Troy and Chad knew they weren't going to be missing out on anything and they were both back home considerably earlier than their 1am curfews.

x x x

Troy hadn't done his homework in days. No one had, really, at least no one who had been friends with Ryan. It had seemed kind of silly to do derivations when one of their classmates had gone missing and no one even knew why.

The teachers were understanding, but they had suggested, as politely as possible, that everyone try to catch up over the weekend. So, at around 10pm on Saturday evening, when on any other weekend he would have been out with his friends enjoying their last few months together, he pulled out a few folders and opened his math text book.

He only got through one problem, however, because as he was digging around for a sheet of formulas he needed for problem number two he came across a sheet of paper that clearly did not belong with his math papers. It was a piece of computer paper and it had on it only a very short, typed letter.

It began:

_WE HAVE YOUR SON._

**Author's Notes: **Once again I'd love to know what you think! I am having a lot of fun writing this, so I hope people enjoy it. I know this part had some serious bits, but I tried to make up for that...I'd love to hear what you are liking/disliking as it makes writing the next chapters so much easier. As for next time...

What does the rest of the note say? Will Troy go to the police? WILL SHARPAY EVANS EVER BE HER AWESOMELY MEAN SELF EVER AGAIN?!

(As for that last one, I sure as hell hope so)


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** This chapter is for Anidori-Kiladra. She leaves great comments on everything I write and it really helps me keep going! I hope she is still reading and she enjoys this installment!

x x x

Well, shit.

Where Troy had expected to find notes on how to do a derivation, he had instead come upon, of all things, a ransom note. And, really, when you thought about it, it was kind of ironic because an innocent high school senior might _think_ that the most complicated thing he could come across in his back pack was calculus notes but he would be wrong because he _could _come across a ransom note which involved millions, literally, _millions_ of dollars and the well being of an actual human life.

He read the note for the third time.

It had all the usual nonsense about unmarked bills and a private jet and no cops, the standard ransom crap, but what was really alarming to Troy at the moment was that the ransomers wanted all this by 11pm Saturday and it was --

Well, it was 10:43. Saturday night.

And according to his conversation with Mrs. Evans earlier that day, no one even knew this note existed, much less its specifications, and the jet probably didn't even have gas, and how would they even get a pilot at this hour and, just --

What the _fuck_ was he supposed to do?

And that was when, without even grabbing his cell phone, Troy walked – no, _dashed_ out his front door, climbed into his truck and started driving straight to the private airport.

x x x

Ryan realized immediately they were driving to the small private hangar that housed his family's jet. He couldn't believe the toolbags who had kidnapped him were dumb enough to use something as obvious as a 20 million dollar jet as their getaway vehicle. What the hell were they planning on doing with it once they were wherever the hell they were going? Push it in a fucking lake?

And what about the pilot? None of them seemed at all like the murdering type. And _surely_ none of them could fly the planes themselves.

Well, it definitely wasn't his problem he had been captured by morons. He was going home tonight and more than likely the Evans would have both their plane and their money back by morning. It was definitely not going to take Sherlock Holmes to figure out this mystery.

There was only one tiny hitch.

They had pulled up right next to the hangar and there was neither a person nor a suitcase full of money in sight.

x x x

You see, it was only once Troy was exiting the parkway for the airport that he realized he was a fucking moron. Up until this point his entire plan had consisted of trying to talk to the kidnappers and convince them that an extension was going to be necessary. Actually, that was still everything his plan consisted of, but up until a moment ago Troy had thought it was a _good_ plan.

It wasn't. Locating a few million dollars and hiring a private jet was not like writing a really long essay. Ransomers were not Mrs. Darbus. He was _so_ out his league. He was pretty sure he didn't even have a twenty on him.

x x x

Even though Ryan knew there must have been some kind of _EPIC_ misunderstanding that resulted in _NO ONE SHOWING UP TO SAVE HIM_ a part of him irrationally started to conclude that he was unloved and his family didn't even care about him and he wasn't worth a million dollars or whatever it was the douche bags that kidnapped him had requested. It was crazy, but he had been kidnapped for fuck's sake, and up until this point he hadn't had even the tiniest of mental lapses.

Unfortunately, that meant he had been bottling up a lot of unrealized emotion and no one coming to get him un-kidnapped him was something of a breaking point. So, now he was crying.

He was crying really hard.

Really, the word sobbing would be absolutely appropriate here. The choking, heaving kind. He would have been embarrassed, but then he remembered he had been _fucking kidnapped_ _and no one had come to rescue him_ so he had every right in the whole fucking universe to bawl his eyes out and anyone who thought differently could really just suck it.

To make matters worse, his kidnappers also appeared to not have the slightest idea as to what was going on. Additionally, they had become fully accustomed to a fairly fuss-free, easy going (if occasionally sassy) abductee, and now they had a kid who was quickly moving through "upset" and straight into "distraught."

"I – I – I just don't see _why_ –" at this point it was clear Ryan was hyperventilating, and even though Jacob was a kidnapper and he presumably was totally planning on using this kid as a means to getting a shitload of undeserved money, he kind of felt really bad.

And, then, before he could really think about it, he placed a cautious hand on the boy's back.

"Hey, kid, don't worry about it, yeah?" It wasn't totally pussy of him to be doing this, he figured. After all, returning the kid in good mental health was essential to them getting the money and everything. Michael was glaring at him pretty hardcore, but he forged on. "They probably just didn't find the note because this d-bag over here left it on the floor somewhere." He said that last bit with a heartfelt slap to Todd's head. It wasn't the most stellar display of compassion on the planet, but Ryan was slowing reducing his sobs to sniffles.

"It's probably under a couch somewhere, but that's ok, we'll just send another and then you can go home, okay?" He finished with a reassuring smile.

It appeared to have work well enough because Ryan seemed to gather himself together, and he stopped looking like seven year old who got separated from his mom in the super market (much to Jacob's relief).

"You guys are fucking stupid. What kind of morons leave the ransom note on the floor, anyway?" Yep, there was the sass. He was going to be fine.

"Jacob, Todd, outside now." That was Michael barking at them. The other two quickly obeyed and jumped out of the car.

"We are so fucked. How the hell are we going to get another ransom note to them without giving the game away?" He looked rather agitated. "And we only have a place to keep him until Wednesday, then your fucking parents get home and we can't have a fucking captive in the house."

"Well, I don't know what we should do, this was your grand plan after all. We were just helping out 'cause we felt bad you got screwed over. We're not the brains of this operation."

"Yeah, obviously." Jacob shook his head. Todd had walked right into that one.

Todd looked pissed, though. "Hey, man, I'm fucking sick of you ragging on me. Sorry I messed up a few times, it's not like I'm kidnapping people every day here. I'm apparently not a seasoned criminal like you."

"Just shut the fuck up," Michael shouted just as he lunged toward Todd and threw his fist full force into Todd's stomach. He crumpled to the floor, the wind obviously knocked out of him as he writhed and gasped for breath.

Michael characteristically got cocky and moved to stand directly over Todd and continued to mock him. "One fucking punch was all it took to knock you to the ground? Damn, you're getting soft."

Unfortunately, his words incited a speedy recovery in Todd and soon it was Michael who was pinned to the floor. For a moment it looked like he was going to pulverized, but just as Todd back his fist a truck roared into the lot right outside of the hangar.

Ryan felt relief race through him. Images of hot baths, delicious food and a bed that had sheets with a thread count (considerably) over 150 flashed through his mind. This was, of course, until he saw who got out of the truck.

Then he was crying again.

x x x

Derby Evans was a mess. She had really tried to keep herself together while her son's friends had been over, and she knew she absolutely had to be the strong one for Sharpay, but as soon as she was alone in Ryan's room, she no longer she had the energy left to even stand, let alone keep her composure and keep the tears from falling.

Her children were everything to her. Though she had a booming career, no one could ever say a bad word about her parenting. She ate dinner with her kids on a more regular basis than many parents who had no job at all. Yes, perhaps she hadn't made that dinner herself, but she always encouraged the cooks to make them wholesome and nutritious.

She considered herself to be the luckiest mother in the whole world because not only had she raised two fun and brilliant children but they had, as they had gotten more mature, become two of her very best friends. Whether it was yoga or shopping she knew she always had an enthusiastic partner to share it with, and now one of those people had been cruelly taken from her.

Though it felt good to release the emotions she had been holding in control for the entire day, thinking about her loss made her crave the company of Sharpay. It was not a time for the family to be on their own. They needed to stick together and be strong for one another. She knew this had to be affecting Sharpay in ways that she couldn't even comprehend. The two had been best friends since they moment they were born and they had never been apart for more than a night for the occasional sleep over. And even those nights had been few and far in between as they had always kept the same friends so more often than not they went on play dates together.

She walked slowly down the hallway toward her daughter's room. She paused for only a second at Ryan's door, contemplating going in just once more to see if she would finally notice anything that might be helpful. She didn't think she could bare feeling useless once more, however, so she sped past toward Sharpay's door. It was shut and Mrs. Evans knocked quietly before she carefully opened the door. It was almost entirely dark save for a string of twinkling starlights right above Sharpay's massive bed. In the midst of a heap of pillows and blankets Sharpay was flipping through a book of photos. Derby knew the one. It was one of her favorites as well. It was from the year both of them had started dance classes. They were four years old and she hadn't yet returned to her career, having decided to wait until they both were attending school full time. She had been able to go to all the practices and she couldn't help but take at least a roll of film every lesson. Sharpay was always scheming to get front and center and Ryan had always looked so adorable in whatever crazy clothes his stubborn four-year-old self had deemed suitable for dance practice that day. Even when Ryan was four he had a keen interest in bright colors and lots of sequins.

At her mother's entrance, Sharpay looked up from the photos. She gave her mom what was probably the best smile she could muster, it made Mrs. Evan's heart ache that it was so weak and watery. Her baby was usually such a strong girl and to see her so not herself was painful.

"Hi, Mommy." Also gone was the exuberant (and often demanding) tone. Instead her voice was weak and raspy from crying.

"Hi, sweetie. Can I join you?" Sharpay patted the area next to her and together they snuggled under the covers. For the next half an hour they flipped through the album and they even managed to laugh a few times. It was nearly impossible not to giggle in the face of Ryan pouting in nothing but a top hat and tap shoes (he'd just been informed that, sadly, pants were an absolute necessity at the dance academy).

Once they finished, Sharpay shut the album and moved her head onto her mother's chest. Derby brought her hand up and softly stroked her daughter's hair. They laid like that for a few minutes until Sharpay broke the silence.

"Mom, I think I should tell you something." She paused here and for a moment Mrs. Evan's heart jumped into her throat. Sharpay didn't make her wait long though, her daughter had never beaten around the bush, she always just came right out with it. "I really don't think it has anything to do with Ryan disappearing or whatever, because even if every single piece of evidence pointed to it, you and I both know there is no chance in hell he ran away, but he did have a little secret from you and Dad."

At this moment Sharpay turned her head up and looked right into the eyes of her mother.

"Mom, Ryan had a boyfriend."

x x x

**Author's Notes:** Wow. Okay. So that was a pretty long gap. My life just sort of exploded. I spent a week in Bavaria and then my sister visited and then my German classes started and it was all a bit overwhelming! I've got it under control now, though, so hopefully updates will be regular once again. ALSO. I'm starting to enjoy writing this story a bit more than I anticipated, so I want to do right by it and get a beta. I'm looking for someone who has time to chat about plot and characterizations as well as someone who is willing to read through each chapter for grammatical errors. It would also be great if they nagged me to get things done in a timely fashion :). If you are interested let me know! It would be great if you could leave a review for the story, a CRITICAL review that is, and how I should contact you. And by critical I don't mean negative, I just mean explain to me where you think you could help me improve, the aspects you are enjoying, etc. Not just "omg this is great! keep going!" and not just "wow this blows, you need serious help, gurl." Though if you aren't interested in beta-ing then, please, feel free to say either. Maybe this seems silly to you, but in the past I've just had betas who were either too lenient or ones that wanted me to totally change my vision and turn it into THEIR writing style.

So, I hope at least SOMEONE is interested because I really want to make this story brilliant and I can't do it on my own!


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